JP2002024937A - Payout system and meter - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a payout system capable of reducing a countermeasure cost of an enterprise side against a non-payment of a customer and being easily utilized by the customer. SOLUTION: The customer 3 of which a cap of meter 21 is closed pays in 15 by a paying in machine 7 of a convenience store and receives a paying in certificate 13 including a code information, etc. The customer goes back home 19 and inputs the paying in certificate 13 to an input function 23 of the meter 21. In the case where an information processing function 25 of the meter 21 checks a content of the paying in certificate 13 and a problem does not exist, the cap of the meter 21 is opened and a gas feed 29 to the customer 3 is re-opened.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a payment system and a meter for preventing nonpayment of a customer's fee.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for customers who have not paid for gas charges,
The gas supplier urged, and if the fee was not paid despite the elapse of the predetermined period, the employee went to work and closed the gas tap of the customer. When the customer pays after the closure, the employee goes to the opening work again after confirming the payment and opens the cap.

In addition, there is a method of installing a prepaid meter on the customer side. When the customer deposits cash or enters a prepaid card into the prepaid meter, the customer can use the gas for that amount. The customer has the advantage that the gas is available immediately after the deposit.

[0004]

However, for gas suppliers, extra costs such as dunning, plugging, and opening are too expensive for nonpayers. Customers also
Since it takes time for the business operator to confirm the payment, gas usage cannot be resumed immediately after payment.

[0005] In the case of using a prepaid meter, in a device for depositing cash, it is necessary for a business to collect cash. In a device for inputting a prepaid card instead of cash to a prepaid meter, a counterfeit card may be created. In addition, since the customer is required to pay in advance, a refund procedure is required in the event that the company moves out of the business range.

The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a payment system which reduces the cost of measures taken by a business operator for non-payment by a customer and is easy for the customer to use. Is to do.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer system in which a computer of a business is connected to a depositing device via a network. When a deposit is made, the depositing device issues a deposit certificate usable by a specific terminal device.

[0008] In the first invention, when a customer deposits a business using a depositing device, the depositing device issues a deposit certificate usable for a specific terminal device to the customer.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an input means for inputting a deposit certificate, a processing means for processing the information described on the input deposit certificate, and availability based on the inputted information on the deposit certificate. And a control means capable of controlling the following.

[0010] The meter according to the second aspect of the present invention controls the use of the meter based on the information of the deposit certificate input by the customer.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a payment system 1 and a meter 21 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The payment system 1 includes a gas company 9, a financial company 11 such as a bank, a convenience store 5, and the like. Deposit machine 7 of convenience store 5,
The computer 10 of the gas company 9 and the computer 12 of the financial company 11 are connected to each other via a network 17. The customer 3 receiving the gas supply from the gas company 9 deposits 15 the gas fee charged to the deposit machine 7 at the convenience store 5 and receives the deposit certificate 13.

The customer 3 receives a gas supply 29 from the gas company 9 at the customer's house 19. At customer home 19,
A meter 21 is provided. The meter 21 has an input function 23 for inputting the above-mentioned receipt certificate 13, an information processing function 25 for processing the input information, and a meter opening / closing function 27 for opening and closing the gas meter. And

The input function 23 is, for example, a keyboard or the like, and inputs information written on the receipt 13. The information processing function 25 processes information sent from the input function 23. The information processing function 25 is, for example, an arithmetic unit (computer) that performs processing for determining payment information and encryption information recorded on the payment certificate 13 and processing for validity period information.

The meter opening / closing function 27 opens and closes a control valve (not shown) of the meter 21 to shut off gas and the like. As a result of the processing of the information processing function 25, if it is determined that payment has been officially made, the meter opening / closing function 2
7 opens the control valve of the meter 21.

Next, FIG. 2 shows the contents of the deposit certificate 13. The deposit certificate 13 is provided when the customer 3 deposits 15 in the deposit machine 7.
It is issued. The deposit certificate 13 contains the customer's name and
Customer information 201 indicating address, contact information, etc., and gas company 9
Payment information 203 indicating the amount of money to be paid, payment date information 205, encryption information 207, validity period information 209, and the like.

The encryption information 207 is issued by the gas company 9 or the financial company 11. The cipher information 207 is not a fixed cipher but a variable cipher in which the above-described date information 205 is added. Therefore, forgery of the receipt 13 becomes relatively difficult.

The validity period information 209 indicates a period during which the meter 21 operates, and is issued by the gas company 9 or the financial company 11 in consideration of the payment history of the customer 3. For example, if the payment state of the customer 3 is excellent, the operation effective period of the meter 21 is set long.

The deposit certificate 13 shown in FIG. 2 includes customer information 201, deposit information 203, date information 205,
The cryptographic information 207 and the validity period information 209 are printed, but the receipt 13 may be a card-like object in which the above information is written on a magnetic card. Alternatively, the deposit certificate 13 may be a sheet or card in which the above information is indicated by a barcode. The form of the deposit certificate 13 is PDA
(Personal Digital Assistan
(t) a digital information recorded in an electronic device such as a portable information terminal. Further, the form of the deposit certificate 13 is electronic data that can be read out at any time by the customer 3 via a mobile phone or the like, and may be stored by a business operator.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of the payment system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention, which will be described together with FIG.

The meter 21 is open (step 301). That is, from the gas company 9, the customer house 19
A gas supply 29 is provided. In addition, gas utilities 9
Communicates a gas billing request to the customer 3 at regular intervals (for example, once a month). If payment is received from the customer 3 within a predetermined period (YES in step 302), the gas supply 29 from the gas company 9 to the customer home 19 is continued.

If there is no payment from the customer 3 within a predetermined period (NO in step 302), the control valve is closed by the meter opening / closing function 27 of the meter 21, and the gas supply 29 from the gas company 9 is shut off (step 303). ).

The customer 3 deposits 15 the amount charged from the deposit machine 7 of the convenience store 5 (step 30).
4). The deposit 15 is made by cash, a prepaid card, a credit card, or the like. Note that the deposit machine 7 is not limited to the convenience store 5 and may be installed at a branch of the financial company 11 or at another place. Alternatively, the customer 3 may make a deposit from a home computer or a mobile phone via a network.

When the deposit 15 is confirmed by the gas company 9 and the financial company 11 on the network 17, the customer 3 receives the deposit certificate 13 from the deposit machine 7 (step 305). The deposit certificate 13 includes the customer information 201, the deposit information 203, the date information 205, the variable cryptographic information 207 in consideration of the date information, and the validity period information 209 as described above. The term information 209 is issued from the gas company 9 or the financial company 11.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1, the customer 3 brings the receipt 13 back to the customer's house 19. Then, the customer 3 inputs the deposit certificate 13 into the meter 21 of the customer house 19 (step 3).
06). The meter 21 has an input function 23 for inputting the deposit certificate 13.

For example, if the receipt certificate 13 is a sheet and the above-described encryption information 207 or the like is printed, the meter 2
The first input function 23 is a keyboard, and the customer 3 manually inputs the encryption information 207 and the like.

Alternatively, when the deposit certificate 13 is a magnetic card and the above-described encryption information 207 or the like is stored, the input function 23 of the meter 21 is a magnetic information reading device into which a magnetic card can be inserted. The customer 3 inserts the magnetic card into the input function 23.

Alternatively, if the deposit certificate 13 is a printed matter on which a barcode is printed and the above-mentioned encrypted information 207 or the like is converted into a barcode, the input function 23 of the meter 21 is provided with a barcode reader. It is. The customer 3 causes the input function 23 to read the barcode portion.

Alternatively, when the deposit certificate 13 is stored in the form of electronic data remotely and is read out by a customer's computer, mobile phone, or the like, the input function 23 electromagnetically, optically, or acoustically inputs the data from the meter 21 to the meter 21. Is read in.

The information processing function 25 of the meter 21 processes the information of the receipt 13 and permits opening of the meter 21 (YES in step 307). That is, the information processing function 25
Check the encrypted information 207 and the like, and receive 15
Make sure that is done. If there is a problem with the information on the deposit certificate 13 (NO in step 307), the meter 21 continues to be in the closed state, and the customer 3 cannot receive the gas supply 29.

When the information processing function 25 of the meter 21 permits opening, the control valve is opened by the meter opening / closing function 27 and the gas supply 29 to the customer house 19 is restarted (step 3).
08). The validity period of the gas supply 29 is determined by the validity period information 209 of the deposit certificate 13. If there is no payment during this validity period, the meter 21 is closed again and the gas supply 29 is shut off.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, there is an effect of reducing the extra cost for the gas company to go to the place where the gas fee is not paid and perform the dunning / closing / opening work. Until now, the customer could not resume gas use until after the deposit was confirmed by the business operator, but according to the present embodiment, the customer confirms the deposit with the meter 21 at the customer's home. It is opened immediately and gas use can be resumed.

Furthermore, if the payment history of the customer 3 is excellent, the validity period information 209 recorded on the payment certificate 13 is set long. Further, by providing the validity period information 209, there is an effect of suppressing a delay of the deposit 15 of the customer 3 who has a delay in the deposit.

Although the case of the gas company 9 that supplies the gas 3 to the customer 3 has been described here, the company may be an electric company or a water company. In this case, the meter 21 corresponds to an electric meter or a water meter. In the case of an electric meter, instead of the meter opening / closing function 27, a function of controlling availability as a meter is added.

Also, it has been described that the customer 3 uses the deposit machine 7 of the convenience store 5 for depositing 15 into the gas company 9, but the customer 3 uses the computer or mobile phone at home and via the Internet. It is also possible to take the form of depositing the gas company 9 in the form of online banking. In this case, the contents of the deposit certificate 13 (encryption information 207 and the like) are received by the customer 3 via the network. The customer 3 uses an input function 23 such as a keyboard of the meter 21
The user inputs the encryption information 207 and the like, and opens the meter 21. Alternatively, the input function 23 may be electromagnetically, optically, or acoustically connected to a computer, a mobile phone, or the like, and the content of the receipt 13 may be input to the meter 21.

Further, in the case of the customer 3 who pays the gas fee by automatic debit, for example, when the deposit balance is insufficient and the fee has not been paid for a certain period, the gas company 9 will send the customer 3
If the payment is still not confirmed, the meter 21 is closed and the gas supply 29 is shut off (step 303 in FIG. 3). Hereinafter, the flowchart of FIG. 3 is followed. Also in this case, the customer 3 opens the meter 21 immediately after the payment,
There is an advantage that the gas supply 29 can be received.

[0037]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a payment system that can reduce the cost of measures against the non-payment of the customer on the business side and is easy for the customer to use.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a payment system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the contents of a receipt 13;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the payment system 1.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Payment system 3 ... Customer 5 ... Convenience store 7 ... Deposit machine 9 ... Gas company 10, 12 ... Computer 11 ... Financial company 13 ... Deposit certificate 15・ ・ ・ Deposit 17 ・ ・ ・ Network 19 ・ ・ ・ Customer home 21 ・ ・ ・ Meter 23 ・ ・ ・ Input function 25 ・ ・ ・ Information processing function 27 ・ ・ ・ Meter opening / closing function 29 ・ ・ ・ Gas supply 201 ・ ・ ・Customer information 203 ・ ・ ・ Payment information 205 ・ ・ ・ Date information 207 ・ ・ ・ Encryption information 209 ・ ・ ・ Valid period information

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Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A business operator's computer and a deposit device,
A payment system, wherein the payment system is connected via a network and issues a deposit certificate that can be used by a specific terminal device when a customer deposits the business using the deposit device. 2. The payment system according to claim 1, wherein said specific terminal device is a meter. 3. The payment system according to claim 1, wherein the deposit certificate includes customer information, deposit information, date information, or validity period information. 4. The payment system according to claim 1, wherein the receipt includes cryptographic information created in consideration of the date information. 5. The validity period information included in the deposit certificate is information for setting an operation period of the specific terminal device, and the operation period is changed according to a payment history from the customer. The payment system according to claim 1, wherein: 6. The payment system according to claim 1, wherein the business is a gas company, an electric company, a water company, or the like. 7. An input unit for inputting a receipt, a processing unit for processing information described on the input receipt, and a control unit for controlling availability based on the information on the input receipt. And a meter comprising: 8. The meter according to claim 7, wherein the receipt includes customer information, deposit information, date information, or valid period information. 9. The meter according to claim 7, wherein the receipt includes cryptographic information created in consideration of the date information. 10. The validity period information included in the deposit certificate is information for setting an operation period of the specific terminal device, and the operation period is changed according to a payment history from the customer. The meter according to claim 7, characterized in that: 11. The meter according to claim 7, wherein said input means is a keyboard. 12. The meter according to claim 7, wherein said input means is a magnetic information reading device. 13. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said input means is an optical reader including a bar code reader.
Meter as described. 14. The meter according to claim 7, wherein said input means is an electromagnetic wave reader including a wireless communication device.